Words: Chris Arnsby
Gary
Davies: “Hello. Very good evening to you. Welcome to another Thursday night's
Top of the Pops we have a very busy programme for you. In fact the gang are
going to tell you who's in the studio tonight. We've got...”
Audience
member 1: “Beats International!"
Audience
member 2: “The Beloved!”
Audience
member 3: “Phil Collins!”
Audience
member 4: “Del Amitri!”
Gary
Davies: “Well, we start off at number ten in the charts with Instant Replay.
Over there. It's Yell!”
[10]
YELL!: INSTANT REPLAY. Back to Thursday and the 30 minute slot. Top of the Pops is
once again sandwiched between the regional news and Eastenders. “Danny
is determined to leave Albert Square - but who will he take with him - his wife
or Michelle?”
I
understand Michael Grade's plan to have fixed points in the BBC1 schedule, and
it's not a terrible idea, but I wonder if there's a point where it starts to
look stale? Thursday night,7-8pm, on BBC1 has been preserved in aspic since
September 1985. If I was Controller BBC1 I might be thinking of having a change
round to mark the new decade*.
What
would I do? Well, you've got three weekday programmes which run all year round,
Wogan, Eastenders, and Top of the Pops. I'd sit them all at
7.30pm; Wogan on Monday and Friday, Eastenders on Tuesday and
Thursday, and Top of the Pops on Wednesday. With the option to run TotP
from 7-7.35pm; give it an extra five minutes.
Obviously,
I have nothing to say about Yell!
*If
I was Controller BBC1 I would also have commissioned that third series of The
Tripods so maybe it's best no one listens to me.
[27]
JANET JACKSON: COME BACK TO ME. Promo VT.
CHARTS: 40 to 31
[15] BEATS INTERNATIONAL: DUB BE GOOD TO ME. Main stage update. Back in November 1989 I got terribly excited
because the wings of the main stage were shifted back to create a larger gap
between the end of the wings and the perspex column that hides the stairs to
the Crows Nest. Stanley Appel oversaw the episode where the change happened,
then Brian Whitehouse was in charge for an episode and the change was reversed,
and then Stanley Appel came back and reversed Brian Whitehouse's reversal. This
appears to be the Television Centre equivalent of leaving passive-aggressive
notes when someone is stealing milk from the work fridge.*
This
is not, as you might think, bring your daughter to work day. Lindy Layton was
19; she just looks about 13. Grizzled old man Norman Cook is only seven years
older than Lindy.
The
Housemartins have aged him.
POP
STAR TROUSERS NEWS: Norman Cook, Lindy Layton, the drummer, and David
John-Baptiste (the bloke who goes “Tank fly boss walk....”) are all wearing
their Dub Be Good To Me branded tracksuit bottoms. The camera angles never
favour the two keyboard players so I can't check them.
*It
was me!
[11]
DEL AMITRI: NOTHING EVER HAPPENS. BBC VT. A repeat from the 26/01/1990. Gary Davies enmeshed
Audience Member Number 4 in his web of lies, when he made her claim Del Amitri
were in the studio tonight.
[19]
LISA STANSFIELD: LIVE TOGETHER. Promo VT.
CHARTS: 40 to 31
[24]
THE BELOVED: HELLO. I'm not sure what has been done to the scenery behind The
Beloved. It looks like the mesh covering two of the panels has been torn to
allow dry ice tubes to be poked through. The damage doesn't look good but I'm
assuming it can be repaired.
The
Beloved have brought along three tape recorders, what if they'd only brought
two and they both went wrong? The tape recorders are massive reel to reel jobs
and someone has built a nice rack out of scaffolding to display them at a TV
friendly angle. I wonder if that belongs to The Beloved or was it knocked
together by the scenery team in between hacking two holes in the sets.
[7]
PHIL COLLINS: I WISH IT WOULD RAIN DOWN. BBC VT from the 26/01/1990 edition (which was
actually recorded as part of the 18/01/1990 studio session).
[12]
SKID ROW : 18 AND LIFE. Promo VT.
TOP
10
[1]
SINEAD O'CONNOR: NOTHING COMPARES 2 U. Promo VT, this week.
[11]
EURYTHMICS: THE KING AND QUEEN OF AMERICA. Promo VT. “A newly wed Anthea Turner” presents
the show next week.
Performance of the week: Beats International, Dub Be Good To Me
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